Support your local monster hunter! And specifically, support Szandor Nowak, because he needs help. After an unfortunate and unwilling break from monster hunting due to debt and poor health, Szandor is getting back into the business, riding along with older, more experienced hunters to get a feel for the work. This should have been easy and boring, but instead it all goes wrong. In a dark alley, Szandor finds a man hidden in trash. When he tries to help, the man's head explodes bloodily and spontaneously... and all over Szandor. This seems a horrible but otherwise anomalous encounter, so with no leads or reason for the man's death, Szandor continues on with his reckless life and hunter ride alongs. But when he encounters a second man whose head also explodes, Szandor's life starts to fall apart - his relationships, his friends, even his chance at hunting again. He even finds his brother Mikkel turning his back on him. But in the blackest night of loneliness, he finds a new hope - a mentor and a friend. But with this comes a hidden secret of Avalon's darkest places, a hidden underbelly he didn't know about. Things are going to hit the fan in Szandor's life - an army of monsters, a police homicide investigation, and his back against the wall. When all doors are closed, when he finds himself all alone, can Szandor fight a war he knows he can't win?